Elias Tremalion
Motivation: protect the Haslanti League and spread its power and influence throughout the North Caste: Night Anima Banner: A white horse rears up, waving its golden hooves and tossing its golden mane. Elias Tremalion’s exasperated parents had given up hope of him ever growing up to be a worthwhile, productive Haslanti citizen. He affected displays of weary boredom with history and mathematics, and he always seemed to be looking down his nose at the good-natured, well-mannered children of privilege who were supposed to be his friends. No, Elias always preferred to hang out with the rougher rapscallions who played hide-and-seek across the treacherous rooftops of Icehome—when not busy making trouble or running wild all over town, of course. Elias had a sharp mind, but it seemed he would rather be a rascal than the good boy his parents wanted him to be. And every year he got worse instead of growing out of it. At their wits’ end, Elias’s parents turned to Shalas, Elias’s shady uncle. He saw the kind of boy Elias was and gladly agreed to take him in and raise him right. Cowed by Shalas’s commanding presence, Elias feared he was in for years of stentorian, militaristic tyranny. He was not, however, as good a judge of character as Shalas was. Forgoing strict discipline, Shalas honed Elias’s sharp mind with ciphers, foreign customs and games of strategy instead. He equipped Elias not with the useless skills of an effete noble, but the subtle arsenal of a sophisticated spy. When his training was complete, Elias joined Shalas as his aide in the Ears of the North—the Haslanti League’s espionage service. They worked together in the Speakers of Zephyr and Storm, carrying out espionage missions under the aegis of the Haslanti diplomatic corps. Elias got to travel and serve his country, and Uncle Shalas treated him like an important grownup. Then, in just a few short years, he actually was an important grownup poised to take over when Shalas retired. If not for the intervention of the Unconquered Sun in Elias’s 23rd year, however, that would never have happened. While on a daring mission into Cherak, Elias and Shalas were caught and thrown in a dungeon by a Dragon-Blooded agent of the All-Seeing Eye. Slow torture and death seemed all that lay in their future—assuming they didn’t break and make themselves traitors to the League, of course—until Elias’s destiny came due. An array of preternatural abilities became available to him, and with them, he was able to affect his and his uncle’s escape. They eventually made their way back home and reported to the Council of Oligarchs everything that had happened. The Oligarchs were skeptical at first, but Shalas smoothed the way, and Elias convinced them that his loyalty lay with the League and that all his powers were at their disposal. They remained wary, but the opportunity presented by having such an operative in their employ was too good to pass up. Elias is now one of the most important people in the Haslanti League, behind the 12 Oligarchs and the Grandmothers who secretly run the Ears of the North. The Oligarchs see to it that he has all the support and money he needs to do what he does best, and the Grandmothers see to it that he’s kept too busy to uncover their existence.